Naruto-Sempai
by hinatasgreatestfan
Summary: When Naruto graduates from the academy early and returns as a Chunin as a substitute teacher to the Rookies, how will Hinata's life be different? Come on in and find out. Adopted from EvilAngeal
1. New Meetings

Chapter 1

Rain. It was one of those days. The duller-than-silver clouds darkened the day, hailing the cool showers and soaking everyone unfortunate enough to be caught out in it. Hinata was sitting in the back row next to the window, one of her usual spots for the academy class. She was currently looking out the window, her head supported by her hand as she pondered how the weather reflected her life.

It was dull, full of cold people, and overall a bit miserable.

The class was beginning to fill, the newly arriving people making a show of how wet they got. They quickly formed into their little groups and clusters of friends, and proceeded to laugh, joke, complain, and comment on the things academy students would. Hinata, being far too shy and utterly lacking in self-confidence, was left pretty much to herself. This was partly because Hinata was unwilling – or unable – to reach out to others and partly because they, in turn, were unwilling to reach out to her due to her clan's...reputation.

Hinata's life had been a series of failures wrapped in an icy veil of loneliness. Her father had attempted to train her, but after her younger sister had bested her on a number of occasions, he stopped "wasting time" with her, instead leaving her to the care of others. She joined the academy with no self-confidence or self-esteem and, predictably, failed to make friends and made progress at a worryingly slow pace. She had started out ahead of most of the other students, but she was falling behind to a distressing degree now.

Suddenly, the bell rang, indicating that everyone should return to their seats or else they'd be scolded by Iruka-sensei. By now, it was routine, so everyone instinctively moved into place. However, it wasn't Iruka-sensei that walked into the classroom. In fact, it wasn't any teacher they had ever had before. Everyone watched the stranger move to the front of the room with a mixture of surprise, curiosity, and a small amount of disbelief. Even Sasuke Uchiha was watching with an agape mouth. The stranger dropped some papers on the desk before wheeling round on his heels and grinning at all the nonplussed faces of his students. He clapped his hands together, snapping them back into reality.

"Good morning, class!" Naruto said with his trademark foxy grin "Are we sitting comfortably?"

There was no answer to his question. Naturally, everyone was still in the state of confusion as to who this kid was. Probably someone from another class trying to be funny perhaps? He was wearing a Chunin vest, though, which prevented them from outright laughing at him. After a further pause, which lasted several seconds, Sakura raised her hand. Naruto looked over and nodded.

"Yes?" he asked, eyes fixed on her. Sakura cleared her throat before speaking

"Excuse me, but...are you actually our teacher?" She queried, asking the question everyone else wanted to. The whole room leaned forward, awaiting the answer with great interest. Naruto merely continued to smile.

"For today, yes," he said. "It seems Iruka-sensei isn't feeling well today, so I will be temporarily filling in," he finished. As soon as he'd finished, a comment was shouted out.

"But you're just a kid!" Naruto looked over towards the commentator.

"So are you. The difference is that I know all my ninja training. Now, would you like to learn yours, or are you just going to continue to state the obvious?" he said with a grin, diffusing the confidence of the would-be troublemaker. "I mean, you could, but it's not the obvious you need to train in order to see in the ninja world," he said finishing that conversation as he moved around the desk, scanning the papers left by Iruka.

"Chakra control," he read aloud, looking up waiting to be corrected, as he thought about the subject. "Chakra control," he repeated, wondering how skilled the students would be. After all, he didn't spend long at the academy at all, so it was hard to judge what a normal class would be up to at this point.

"Chakra control…Chakra control," he continued to repeat. The class looked rightfully confused, even glancing at each other in doubt.

"Chakra control...I hope you're getting all this down!" Naruto commented. "Right! Let's see what you know! The purpose of chakra is?" he asked, looking around the room quizzically. Slowly, Sakura raised her hand.

"Yep?"

"Chakra is an energy ninja use to perform ninja techniques," she said hesitantly.

"Exactamundo…A word I've never used before and hopefully never will again," he said, surprised at himself. "One point to…" he said looking at her questioningly.

"Sakura Haruno," she supplied.

"Okay, what is the purpose of hand seals?" he asked looking around the room. Only Sakura raised her hand. "Someone else," Naruto said, looking around the room, sharpening his gaze and revealing his intent to pick someone. "Nope? Okay, Sakura?"

"Hand seals are used to shape and manipulate chakra in order to allow it to be used for something that would not otherwise be possible," she said

"Text book answer! Two to Sakura. Okay, Sakura, tell me this. What would the effect be if too much chakra was used in a jutsu?"

"The jutsu would not function correctly, if at all. Not to mention it would be far more taxing on the user."

"Excellent answer! However there is something you all should know about jutsu. You don't actually need hand seals to perform them. Hand seals are as you said used to shape and manipulate chakra but only if the user cannot do so within their body. There are several well-known jutsu that don't require them, one of them being the Rasengan. Now with that being said, performing any jutsu without hand seals increases the difficulty twenty-fold. Who created the Rasengan?"

"The Fourth Hokage!" Sakura blurted out.

"Now what is your chakra element?" Naruto pushed, not bothering to tell her she was right. She knew she was, or she should with answers that were literally repeated as written in a textbook. By this point, the class was looking in between Sakura and Naruto, waiting for one of them to become stumped. At the very least, Naruto's credibility was going up.

"Um…I don't know…" Sakura said, her voice quieting down along with her confidence. Naruto nodded, opening the drawers in the desk, apparently looking for something. He rose from the desk with a frown. Suddenly, a clone popped up next to him. Without a word or a moment's hesitation, it sped off out of the room. The class remained silent. If nothing else, the substitute was interesting.

"Excuse me, but how did you do that without forming a seal?" Sakura piped up again. Naruto sat himself down leisurely in Iruka's seat, looking up at her as he did so.

"I did form a seal," he corrected.

"But, I was watching…" she said, trailing off. Hinata frowned, she agreed with her classmate. She, too, had been watching and listening quite intently, and she was sure he didn't make a hand sign.

"He was just that quick," Sasuke interjected. Naruto grinned at the prodigy with a slow nod. "I saw it, but only barely," Sasuke explained, his expression one of surprise, a rarity for the usually calm and collected Uchiha.

"That's correct. No doubt you guys will be starting to get fast yourselves soon, but later on, when you have done your seals as often as I have, you get so quick that the untrained eye cannot see them," Naruto said, rising from his seat to stroll amongst the front.

"But you're our age. Exactly how much experience do you have?" Sasuke asked rather forcefully, clearly irritated. Naruto looked at Sasuke, his smile fading a little but not completely.

"Enough," he replied simply. As he did so, his clone returned, a box in hand.

"Okay, let's do some fun stuff. I'm only here for today, so what do you say we make the most of it, yeah?" he said, nodding with a grin on his face. Hinata couldn't help but smile a little too. His smile was infectious. Glancing around the room, it seemed that was true. Several others also wore some form of smile on their faces.

"You know the five chakra elements, right?" Naruto asked the class rather loudly. In response, he got a murmur of an agreement.

"Great. Okay, you; Mr. Loudmouth from earlier, name one," he ordered.

"Earth," came back an answer.

"Good, you, another," he said, looking at Shino.

"Water."

"Yep, another," he continued referring to another student.

"Lightning."

"Great, two more, What are they, Sakura?"

"Fire and wind!" she replied with a hint of joy.

"Fantastic! You know that at least. In a moment, I'm going to pass out paper that I will show you how to use to discover your own chakra element," he said as his clone was sorting out said paper behind him.

"While we wait for that, who wants to take a guess at my element?" he offered. He wouldn't lie, he liked people guessing things about himself, it was so much more fun than just telling them. Let's face it, everyone does. A few elements were called out aloud.

"What about…you?" he said looking at Hinata, who nearly visibly jumped at being picked.

"A-um…F-Fire?" she squeaked.

"Fire? I see, think I'm hot do you? Can't blame you," he said, earning several groans from the class, and causing Hinata to rapidly begin to redden. "Nah, I'm just kidding. I won't hold it against you," he said with a playful wink. In a plume of smoke, the clone was gone, Naruto turned and picked up the stacks of paper, and handed them out one per person.

"All right, here's how these work. Just hold it like so," he explained, holding one up, showing them clearly, then continued, "and focus your chakra in your hand. The paper is very reactive to chakra, If it splits in half, like this..." His own was suddenly sliced into two pieces, and he continued, "you are one refreshing dude, like me, and have wind element chakra. If it becomes wet, you're water, if it burns up, you've got fire, turns to dust, you've got earth, and finally if it wrinkles up like the Hokage's face, you're lightning. Well, okay, your papers won't wrinkle up THAT much, but whatever," he said rather cheekily, smiling to himself over his rather witty comment, or so he thought.

Hinata looked down at her own paper. Water, Earth, Fire, Wind or Lightning. She had thought about it briefly, but right now she found herself oddly excited to find out what she was. Perhaps it was just the idea of learning a little something about herself. She held the paper, and closed her eyes, then focused on gathering her chakra. Hinata opened her eyes to find the paper had fallen limp. She knew now her element was water.

xxxxxx

The day had flown by. Before she even knew what was what, it was time to go home. Hinata found herself not only disappointed, but slightly saddened, though for entirely different reasons than the normal ones. The first was that she wanted it to last so much longer. She felt that she made some actual progress today. She felt sad that she knew this was a one-day deal. She respected and liked Iruka-sensei very much, but Naruto…had a gift...or at least a way with her. She found him very easy to listen to and learn from. She didn't know if it was that she was just relating better to him, given his age, or if it was the sheer energy that radiated from him at all times. Whatever it was, it helped her. She was deliberately slow in packing things away so she could speak with him alone. At the moment, most of the class were saying their farewells.

Naruto was really a hit, despite the seemingly rocky start. She even noted Sasuke seemingly enjoying himself today, something which was so odd it bordered on being unnatural. As she was lost in her thoughts, the last of the class exited the room, leaving just the two of them. Naruto, seeing very clearly that she was taking her time to leave, hopped on the desk in front of hers.

"You have something you want to ask me?" he asked, alerting her of their privacy. After confirming it, she looked up at Naruto with uncertainty, a nasty habit of hers.

"W-Well I, um..." she paused. Naruto was rather sympathetic to her. He didn't know much of the Hyuga clan, but he knew lack of self-confidence when he saw it. So he sat there, waiting patiently for her to say her part.

"I-I just w-w-was wondering...D-Do you...um...A-Are you...available?" she asked. Naruto processed what she said, his eyes betraying his level of shock. Hinata, at the same time, realized how that sounded.

"Aahhh!" she squeaked. "Nonononono, I mean, do you do private...I mean, do you do one-on-one sessions?" she continued, stammering in her panic, the shade of her cheeks revealing her complete embarrassment. "For training! A-assuming you won't b-be back to teach..." she said, looking anywhere at all but at Naruto, who was just focusing on trying desperately not to laugh. However funny it might be, he was worried her fragile confidence would shatter.

After regaining control of his throat, he spoke.

"Well, not on record," he said, studying her reaction. "Iruka is your teacher, and I'm quite sure he would like you to approach him if you feel you require additional help or attention in any area," he explained, taking note of her disappointment.

"However, if you feel you require extra-hours mentoring," he said, giving Hinata enough hope to get her to look at him, "you can request aid from either Iruka or the Hokage directly," he finished. Seeing Hinata's reaction to this, he realized that she wanted to avoid having to ask Iruka for someone else's help. He could understand that. And it might be a hassle for her, being a Hyuga, to go to the Hokage. He smiled.

"Tell you what, leave it to me," he said with a reassuring grin. "I'll pop in tomorrow to fill you in on what I can do for you. All right?" This earned him a small smile and a short nod from the embarrassed Hyuga. With her objective complete, she hurriedly made to leave the room. As she got to the door, Naruto spoke up again.

"By the way, Miss Hyuga," he said, standing and looking at her with an expression of mild seriousness. "While we spoke at the start of class about you thinking of me as being 'hot', perhaps asking about my availability came about too soon," he said with a wink and a giant grin.


	2. Hinata's Sempai

Chapter 2

When Hinata woke up that morning, she found herself energetic and very excited. It could have been the complete change in the weather, from rain and cool wind yesterday to a cloudless summer sky today, or perhaps she was just looking forward to the idea of being mentored by the one person in several years that made her feel like she was changing, like she was growing as both a shinobi and as a person.

After finishing her morning rituals, she slipped out of the compound after a rather hastily-eaten breakfast, wanting to avoid her father. It wasn't that he berated her, not anymore. It was worse than that. It was as though he had given up on her entirely. When he spoke somewhat cruel things to her, it could at least be seen as an attempt to motivate her further. However, she knew it was bad that he didn't even do that anymore. These days, he was both cold and distant to her. A hurtful combination, given that he was her father, a person she would always love, and the person she wanted to improve for the most.

As she strolled through Konoha this morning, she could just tell today was going to be a good day. The dampness caused by yesterdays rain was already nearly gone, just leaving the plants watered, causing their smell to be carried well across the area. The sunlight was warm, yet not hot, the breeze was ever-so-slightly cooling, and, best of all, there wasn't a cloud in sight.

"Hey! Miss Hyuga!" came a brilliantly familiar voice. Hinata smiled, recognizing it, and turned to see Naruto landing before her.

"Naruto-sensei," she greeted, her little smile in place. Naruto grinned back.

"Just Naruto, or Naruto-sempai if you must," he said, still avoiding the 'sensei' title. "But great news!" he said, his smile growing ever wider. "I spoke with the Hokage and the guys at the academy, and they've given me permission to be a personal tutor for you," he said, making sure to keep eye contact, wanting to see her smile both on her face and in her eyes. "After hours at the academy, on weekends, or even if you feel you need a little space from your classmates. So long as I'm available, I'm all yours," he said, then, seizing the opportunity to tease her, stepped back and added with a sly smile, "I hope we can keep this strictly professional."

Hinata, slightly less amused, flushed.

"Naruto-sempai!" she cried out, looking away in embarrassment. He seemed to be unwilling to let her simple mistake yesterday go. She hadn't meant it the way it came out! It was just her nerves. But alas, the damage was done now, and she was paying for it.

"I'm just kidding," he said, holding up his hands as though in defense. "But what do you think? Naruto do good, or what?" he finished with a grin, hands on his waist. Hinata nodded.

"Yes, thank you, Naruto-sempai. I only hope I won't disappoint you," she said with a slight bow. Naruto frowned at this.

"Hm, disappoint me?" he questioned, stroking his chin thoughtfully. Hinata looked up, worried. "You aren't in the habit of turning up some hours late, are you?" he asked, completely seriously. Hinata blinked.

"Um…no?" she replied, baffled by the strange question.

"Hm, I see," Naruto said, still looking thoughtful. "You aren't going to ditch times we agree on because it was 'a drag', are you?" he asked, again with complete seriousness. Hinata was somewhat confused by where this was going.

"No," she repeated, more sure of herself this time. Naruto grinned at her again. After studying his face for a moment, Hinata allowed herself to relax.

"Hinata, so long as you turn up, on time, and you give it all you have, you could never disappoint me," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "You seem like the type who will do that, am I right?" He nodded with an encouraging smile. Hinata looked up into his wonderfully blue eyes and nodded.

"Fantastic!" he said, letting go of her. "Now, you have a class to attend, and I have a mission to get to. I'll pop in to see you at the end of the day. So you be good, you naughty thing, you!" he chuckled playfully before hopping off.

Hinata couldn't help but flush a little. She wouldn't admit it, but she liked how he joked with her. Though it was embarrassing, she found it was definitely lessening her reluctance to be open with him. She didn't fully understand how that worked, but it just…did.

xxxxxx

The day passed much as many before it had. Hinata found her energy topped off, though, likely from a certain individual who seemed to have boundless energy. Naruto was the subject of many a conversation throughout the whole day. Iruka revealed that Naruto started the academy a year before they did, and passed in a single year. Of course, this only seemed to boost his popularity among the students, which Hinata saw made Iruka both a little deflated and very happy. She supposed the two had their own bond, as Iruka was quick to point out he was Naruto's favorite teacher, also using it as a form of motivation, telling them that if they did as he said, they would be on the road to catching up to Naruto. This was frighteningly effective, especially when it came to Sasuke, oddly enough.

Hinata, like the others, was working extra hard that day, though she felt she had her own reasons, more personal than the others. She wanted to have something to say for herself, knowing that, that evening, Naruto would no doubt ask about her day.

When the day did finally draw to a close, Hinata was a little upset with herself. She really gave it her all, but she didn't feel as though she made any progress at all. Suddenly, she wasn't quite as enthused about talking with Naruto, at least not when he asked about class.

As she gathered her things, she couldn't help but feel that pang of disappointment. _"Another day gone, with no progress made,"_ was all she could think.

"Heya!" Naruto said from behind her, shocking her into a small gasp. She spun around, taking a step back and crashing into her desk. Naruto chuckled as she picked herself up.

"Easy now," he said, grinning. "It's only me. So, how do you think you did today?" he asked. Hinata brushed herself off but paused when he asked that. She considered just lying, only for a moment, but passed on that idea. Naruto was already going to lengths for her, so she didn't want to disgrace him by lying to him.

"Um…well…" she began. She glanced up at Naruto, expecting to see a look of concern or disappointment, but no such look could be seen. He was just smiling at her, patiently waiting for her to tell him. "I'm not sure I made much progress," she confessed, holding her arm with her hand, and looking down. There was a pause. Slowly she looked up, only to find Naruto looking at the ground, scanning it, as though searching for something. This continued for a moment before Hinata finally had to ask.

"Um, Naruto-sempai?" she said, catching his attention.

"Yes? Sorry, I just don't see it," he said with a grin. He had lost her.

"See what?" she asked.

"Whatever you were looking at down there!" Naruto exclaimed, gesturing towards the ground. Hinata just looked, completely unsure of where he was going with this. Naruto continued to look at her before elaborating.

"Okay, first thing's first. Confidence!" he said with emphasis. "I don't mean to be rude, not that you would say anything even if I was," he prodded, then continued, "but you don't have any!" Hinata frowned, but could not bring herself to disagree. Instead she just looked down. Naruto cupped her chin and picked her face back up to his.

"There's nothing wrong with being shy, Hinata, but when your confidence is affecting everything else, it's time for a change, you know?" he said, smiling. Hinata smiled back a little, unable to follow her instincts and look down.

"Lesson one: Eye contact!" he exclaimed, releasing her chin. "All I want you to do is maintain eye contact with someone when you're speaking to them. I guarantee that this will help raise your confidence," he said. "So, let's practice now. Do you have time?" he asked, checking his watch momentarily.

Hinata nodded. "Sure." Naruto grinned.

"Perfect. Well, let's get something to eat while we practice," he said, raising a finger. "When I was at the academy, Iruka-sensei would occasionally treat me to ramen. Sound good?" he asked with a grin that left her with only one answer.

"That sounds great," she said, focusing on maintaining eye contact.

Naruto took her to a small ramen shop, one she had not been to before. It seemed nice enough. The owners seemed very friendly with Naruto, leading her to believe that perhaps this was one of his favorites. After ordering, Naruto turned back to her.

"So, the first thing I would like to ask is this: Why?" he asked, quite simply. Hinata, whilst making sure to maintain eye contact with him, frowned a little.

"Excuse me, but why what?" she asked after a moment of silence passed.

"Why are you here? Becoming a ninja, despite how hard it is and the dangers of it all?" he asked, clearly pressing into personal territory. Hinata was hesitant and nearly lost eye contact, but, after gathering her thoughts, she responded.

"Because I need to be," she said as simply as he asked.

"For your clan?" Naruto asked. Hinata blinked.

"Well, yes and no. It's true the Hyuga have a long-standing tradition of being exceptional warriors. The main branch more than anyone is supposed to excel in strength, so there is that. But…" Hinata struggled to maintain eye contact. It was only now she was realizing how blue Naruto's eyes were. It was like looking into a perfect sapphire lake during a midsummer afternoon.

"I see," Naruto said after her pause continued into silence. "So, while there is the expectation, you expect it of yourself as well," he said presumptuously. Hinata nodded. There was slightly more to it than that, but that was a rough silhouette of the picture.

"What about you?" she dared to venture. Naruto grinned at her, apparently pleased by this.

"Well, since you ask, I did it to become a hero and to become respected. But it didn't take me too long to work out that it doesn't exactly work like that. My goal is to become the greatest Hokage, and to protect everyone in the village," he said with a smile unlike any other Hinata had seen. It was both passionate and thoughtful, just like the tone he used to speak to her. Normally, the statement 'become the greatest Hokage' would be the words of some loudmouthed fool. But when he said it, the way he said it, Hinata instantly believed that he really could be what he said he would. Just as all this hit her, the food was placed in front of them. Naruto broke eye contact to focus on his meal.

"Thanks for the food!" he called cheerfully as he began to dig into his food. Hinata followed suit, thinking about what he just told her. She could have guessed from what little she knew of Naruto that he was a big thinker, and a big dreamer. But his goal was big, bigger than she would have guessed. She considered the possibilities of it. Clearly, Naruto was a gifted shinobi, so there was a chance. But then all of the Hokage had legendary strength and wisdom. Even the Third, in his old age, was a force to be reckoned with. To become the greatest of them all? Hinata looked at the boy to her side, and allowed herself to imagine.

"So, anyway," Naruto continued, having swallowed a particularly large mouthful, and effectively bringing Hinata back to earth. "I want you to keep eye contact with everyone you speak with for three weeks. Even if it's hard, or they aren't keeping eye contact with you, make sure you look into their eyes. The reason I say three weeks is because that is the time it takes to train your brain to learn a habit. Once you keep doing something for that long, your brain will do it automatically, and you shouldn't have to focus on doing it," he said simply. Hinata nodded. She didn't really know either way, but she had faith that he knew what he was talking about.

"So, tell me, do you feel it's made a difference in this conversation?" he asked, looking at her. She looked back at him and locked eyes. She smiled faintly, causing him to return one.

"Yes, I think it has," she said, admitting to herself that she was able to be more open with him than she might have otherwise allowed herself to be.

"Brilliant!" Naruto exclaimed, enthusiastically nodding. "Confidence is a big one. Once you've nailed that, I think you'll find it will really open all sorts of doors for you. I mean, you're fearless at asking a guy out, but not so much at everything else." He grinned. Hinata fought to maintain eye contact, but a faint pink tint managed to creep into her cheeks.

"I told you I didn't mean it like that!" she pleaded, to which Naruto just laughed.

xxxxxx

Throughout the rest of their meal, there was a much more general topic of conversation, all whilst maintaining eye contact, something Hinata actually found very difficult to do, especially given how remarkably blue Naruto's eyes seemed to be the entire evening. She asked him about a few academy-related things she didn't understand or wanted a better idea of, and Naruto happily obliged. Hinata also learned that Naruto could put away a ridiculous seven bowls of ramen, which, after comparing bowl sizes to Naruto himself, she was certain was several times the size of his entire digestive system.

He walked her back to the Hyuga grounds before going off somewhere else. Hinata found herself smiling the rest of the night. This time she knew full well it wasn't the weather which was causing it, but rather a certain blond.

A/N: For those who read the original version of this chapter, I haven't changed much of anything here. If I recall one of the upcoming events correctly, namely Naruto helping Hinata with her stammering problem (which you may have noticed is gone here), that will be changed rather drastically, but as yet, not much has changed. For those reading this story for the first time here, I hope you're enjoying it, and I'll see you all next chapter!


	3. Hinata's Determination

Naruto Sempai: Chapter 3 – Hinata versus Sasuke?

Over the course of the next few days, Hinata would be sure to look everyone she spoke to dead in the eyes. Not staring exactly, but somewhat less than relaxed, which was often a fright to her conversation partner; having two pale pupil-less eyes fixated on your own. At first it was very difficult; she felt self conscious, and somewhat naked in a sense. Though as the days shifted on, and she practiced eye contact more, she found it progressively easier, and was becoming less tense when speaking to people. Her usual stutter was receding from her speech remarkably in the time given. In fact over all she felt a little better about herself. She remained shy, timid and lacking in the self confidence area; however her ability to hold actual conversations were growing rapidly.

Naruto visited her only once since, just to check up on how she was doing. He took her again to the ramen bar, thus solidifying her belief it was indeed one of his favorites. She found she really enjoyed him even just for his company, his personality was so warm and uplifting you would have to trying to NOT get along with him. He made sure she was the one talking mostly, mainly asking questions about her time in the academy the focus shifting between the lessons themselves to her classmates. Hinata enjoyed Naruto's company, his personality was so warm and uplifting, it was quite refreshing, and so different from anyone she knew. He was quite outspoken with a cool tempered confidence underlining how he spoke. He was quick to make a joke whenever the opportunity arose, seemingly to both get a laugh from his conversation partner, and to keep the conversation quite light. Next to him she couldn't help but feel even more withdrawn than she knew she was, but in a good way, if such a feeling was possible.

She decided to herself that there was indeed much to learn from Naruto, what he taught her, as well as how he acted and how he spoke.

Today was Friday, the last day in the week for the academy and with it a small test accompanying it. It would be one of two 'practice-test' days before the final exam. Naturally Hinata was quite nervous of it. When they first started at the academy she was by comparison to her classmates very talented, however, since then it seemed they had all surpassed her. On days like today she actually wished she was sick, or something of the sort.

She dawdled to the academy, practically dragging her feet as though willing them to anchor her to the spot. But all too soon she found herself sitting in her seat, waiting for her self confidence to take another body blow.

xxxxxx

Uchiha Sasuke sat in the shade, watching the remaining of his group finish their kunai and shuriken throwing test. As per usual he had aced his own, as well as getting extra points for aerodynamic control and agility over his weapons after they had been thrown. This meant all of nothing to him. Curving the path of his weapons made it harder to guard against, and he had been doing it as easily for a small number of years already. Even supposing that wasn't true, these 'fake-exams' were the last thing on the boys mind. He was thinking of a certain blond-haired ninja.

He couldn't shake the thoughts from his mind. This guy, the same age as them or so he looked was not only a fully fledged ninja, but was even of the intermediate 'Chunin' level?

How had he done it? He hadn't known anyone to progress that fast save for his quarry. A fact he found difficult to deal with on an emotional level. He had tried to seek him out, but had only found him once, and he was spending time with Hyuga Hinata. He looked over at her. She was the shy daughter of the head of the clan. Beyond that he realized he knew nothing about her really, only that she was so quite he sometimes wondered if she had some sort of condition which prevented her from speaking too much.

Realizing they were alone, most of the class still performing, or waiting to perform, the test, he decided to speak to her out of sheer curiosity.

"How did you do in the test?" he asked flatly, knowing full well how she had done. Hinata blinked, and looked toward him.

'That's strange…he's the only person who speaks less than I do' she thought. Still it would be rude not to reply, so she responded, whilst looking at his eyes.

"I-I think I did alright, not exactly good, but I usually p-pass after similar performances" she replied, considering other recent such tests. Sasuke shifted, realizing he would have to think of something else to say to keep the conversation alive

"You seem to be doing as well as you did today for awhile now" he commented, still not looking at her, but rather the group before them still being tested.

"Y-Yes. Unfortunately I'm not making so much progress…" she trailed off, finding it difficult to talk about herself in such a way to the top of the class. Sasuke realized he had inadvertently hit a nerve, and turned to mutter some sort of an apology, but stopped dead when he saw her looking right at him her eyes staring into his own. He blinked. Finding it hard to look away he immediately turned back to break the eye contact.

"Ugh…" he said re-gathering himself "Sorry" he murmured quietly. Hinata found his reaction quite peculiar, was he so unused to people looking him in the eye? The truth of which being not as such, in fact Hinata was quite uncomfortable talking to him, so when forcing herself to look into his eyes, she came across as staring rather intensely. A heat Sasuke was still feeling as he shifted where he sat uncomfortably. Not knowing how to respond to his random apology Hinata opted to say nothing. Something which added to Sasuke's steadily rising level of complete lack of comfort.

"So, er…" He began unable to take the silent staring "…what is your element of your chakra?" he asked, sending her a side glance, before snapping his eye back frontward after seeing her still staring at him

"Ano… my chakra is-"

"Can you stop looking at me like that!" he suddenly pleaded, "Please" he added for good measure. Hinata blinked, and leaned back

"Um… sure, s-sorry" she said, deciding now would indeed be a good time to look at the floor. Sasuke sighed a breath of relief as he felt the weight of her gaze break. He had heard the eyes of the Hyuga were powerful at unnerving a person but that was ridiculous, he mentally groaned.

"Don't worry about it" he said, trying to regain his indifferent voice. Hinata at the same time had clicked onto why he was uncomfortable, and couldn't help but let loose a small giggle. Sasuke frowned, and dared to glance over, watching her trying to hold her laugh in. He folded his arms tightly across his chest and had a face that looked like a child who had their ice-cream stolen, he clearly wasn't as amused.

"S-Sorry" she said trying to suppress her amusement. Sasuke just looked at her as she smiled looking away deliberately now. At that moment he just knew she was going to be on his genin team. He groaned inwardly.

xxxxxx

Hinata sat on the swings outside the academy. It was time to go home but she didn't have the energy, either physically or mentally. Instead she sat watching the final students make their way home, or be picked up. She silently moved back and forth thinking about the events of today, and what it would mean for things to come. She had failed. On each individual test even. Things were not looking good. She wondered of her fathers reaction if she failed. She considered her life if she could not be a shinobi? No, that was unheard of for one of the Hyuga to fail much less the Firstborn and heir the clan.

"Hey, what're you doing?" A familiar voice suddenly came from in front of her. She snapped back into reality, finding Naruto hanging from upside down in front of her.

"Ahh!" she cried, falling off the back of the swing. Naruto just looked at her with a twisted smirk, before bursting out into a laugh. Hinata frowned a little, Naruto sealed his lips into another twisted smile. Though it lasted only seconds before he broke out into a laugh again.

"Oh come on, it is a bit funny" he reasoned, hopping down in front of her, and offering her a hand up. Hinata accepted but didn't smile, her thoughts were already back to her results. She looked down and stayed silent. Naruto studied her for a moment before resting a hand on her shoulder. This got her attention as she looked at him properly

"Hey, come on now, whatever it is, I'm sure it's not that bad" he said reassuringly. Hinata sighed

"I-I failed" she murmured. Naruto smiled a little

"We all fail sometimes Hinata, which ones?"

"All of them" she replied dejectedly. Naruto went wide eyed for a moment, but regained his expression easily.

"Well... that is less good, but not earth shattering. Come on, let's sort you out" he said turning to her side, and using the hand on her shoulder to ease her forward with him via her back. They continued to walk until they came to a field with three wooden stumps at the base of it. Hinata by which time had fallen again into deep thoughts of what would happen when she failed.

"Hinata" Naruto said, withdrawing his hands to his sides, he walked forward and leant on the middle stump. "Let me share with you my biggest secret."

This caught her attention, and Naruto saw it in an instant.

"No doubt you've wondered to yourself how I got to where I am, right?" he said nodding, already giving her the answer. Predictably she nodded back.

"Well the answer to my success. No I take that back" he said looking at the floor as though he'd thought of something before looking back to her "The secret to being a ninja is one thing…" he said, trailing off, gesturing for her to come closer. She obeyed and leant in enough for Naruto to whisper it to her.

"Guts" he said softly.

Hinata pulled back, her expression revealing her confusion.

"To have the will to never give up. To get back up no matter what. That is what it really means to be a ninja" He explained "By learning ninjutsu, and other such ninja arts, we can do amazing things. But; by believing in ourselves and always taking that step forward, we can do great things Hinata." He said with a smile. "That is the only thing that separates me from anyone else. I know that if I try hard enough, and believe in myself, I really can do just about whatever I set my mind to."

"Do you trust me?" he asked, rather suddenly. Hinata froze for a moment, but slowly, she nodded.

"I-I trust you, N-Naruto-sempai," she stammered with a small smile of her own. Slowly a smile spread across his face. His smile lit his face, giving it indescribable warmth.

"So if I asked you, theoretically what would you like to accomplish before becoming a Genin?" he asked, studying her carefully. Hinata paused before answering, it was a rather unexpected question, as at the moment she was just concerned with becoming a Genin. Still, there was one thing…

"I…" she began, looking at Naruto looking back at her with nothing but patience and interest, her confidence grew enough for her to continue.

"I… I wanted to have beaten Sasuke at something," she said, a sense of shame of revealing such envy coming over her. Naruto on the other hand just chuckled. She looked at him worried, was her wish so off it was just funny?

"Hinata, you are more alike to me than I had realized!" he laughed, suddenly very clearly pleased by her answer. She grinned sheepishly back.

"Right then, as your personal mentor, it will be my job- no! My duty! To see this A-rank mission fulfilled!" Hinata could only blink at him. Was he serious?

"So, the only question remains my not-so-innocent little Hyuga friend, in which area do you want to beat him?" Naruto continued, apparently quite serious. Hinata had to resist the urge to laugh out of sheer disbelief. Naruto saw this, and titled his head in question to it

"Ano… Naruto-sempai… forgive me but… are you s-serious?" She asked, as she instinctively brought up her fingers, as they poked and push one another. Naruto studied her for a moment before holding her hands, and pushing them down.

"I am absolutely serious Hinata. You are telling me you want to beat Uchiha Sasuke in one area in your graduation tests. I am asking which test" he stated, coolly. Hinata just looked at him, and then broke out into laughter.

xxxxxx

It had taken awhile for Naruto to get her to take him seriously, or so he felt. She was certainly an interesting girl, he would definitely have to credit her for that. The shy, timid and ever so polite Hyuga heir had been laughing at him. Eventually she had laughed it out, allowing him to explain it further. He would personally oversee her training until she was of a passing grade, after them, he would focus much of her time and energy into the one area she chose in order to be certain she would defeat the Uchiha genius in said area.

Hinata had opted for taijutsu, given that it was her own personal strength, and would be the lead of her powers in years to come. While she considered trying for kunai and shuriken practice, it wasn't as a practical choice on her part in the long run.

Naruto had given her a several appointments in the week during which she would be training with him personally. He advised her to spend most other time in other area's as with him 90% of their time would be focusing on taijutsu training. As promised he would give her help in other areas, and bring her up to a firm passing level, but he made it clear much of his time with her he wanted to put into taijutsu.

Hinata was going over this in her mind as she walked home. She was still inwardly laughing at the very idea of beating the Uchiha Sasuke at anything. She wasn't among his group of avid supporters, however she knew he was incredibly gifted. She was… not gifted at all. However her mind kept playing over Naruto words. For that reason alone she couldn't dismiss the possibility. After all, Naruto would have to be even more than gifted to get to where he was today. If he was telling her, and more importantly he promised her. Even so, it was a very difficult concept for her to take in.

As she moved throughout the Hyuga grounds she noticed a spar going on in one of the open grounds. She stood to watch as their speedy strikes struck with inhuman levels of accuracy. She noticed how perfect their balances were, their posture, and how fluent their movements were. She found her mind drifting to how good Naruto was. All she really knew of him was that he was the same age as her; 12, and was of the Chunin level. The information combined was certainly impressing, but also unspecific. Was he a taijutsu specialist, or perhaps ninjutsu? For some reason he didn't strike her as a predominant genjutsu user, so she dismissed it. It was then that it occurred to her, in the first class he summoned a shadow clone! Even more remarkable was that he performed the seal so fast, only Sasuke had seen it. She wondered if that meant he was a ninjutsu specialist, as taijutsu doesn't require the hand seals.

She could has stayed there wondering about it for a great deal of time were it not time to eat shortly. As she prepared for another meal avoiding her fathers gaze she smiled to herself upon a single moment of a thought.

How good would it be, to be able to tell her father she came top in the class in taijutsu, above and beyond the Uchiha genius himself.

She allowed herself a cheeky grin at the idea.


End file.
